However, King Zheng's words had the opposite effect. Li Zhi sneered and said, "Prince Zheng, do you mean that your son's death is also related to the Queen's clan?"
King Zheng said in a deep voice: "I do have this suspicion."
"Stupid!" Li Zhi said angrily.
King Zheng was stunned. This was the first time Li Zhi scolded him like this.
King Pei on the side wiped the sweat from his forehead, and he was already sure in his heart that the person behind Ziniang was Emperor Li Zhi, otherwise he would not have reacted like this.
King Zheng asked: "Your Majesty, do you know how my son died?"
Li Zhi glanced at King Pei, waved his hands irritably, and said: "Your son has done many evil things and brought disaster upon himself. If you want to blame him, you must blame him for your lack of strict discipline!"
King Zheng's face changed slightly, he took a deep breath, lowered his head, and stopped talking.
Li Zhi glanced around. In the emperor's rage, no one dared to look at him.
Although Li Zhi didn't believe what King Pei said just now, he reminded him that this stone tablet was obviously that of King Pei. The King of Yue wanted to murder the Queen's family, but the Queen had a clever trick and that's why there was that line of small words.
After all, Li Zhi had been the emperor for decades, and now he had regained his composure. He sat down on the dragon boat and said slowly: "Queen, what is going on in this matter? I want to hear what you have to say."
"Your Majesty, my concubine didn't know about this matter originally. If Chengsi hadn't been alert, we, the Wu clan, would have suffered this unjust injustice." Wu Mei sighed.
Li Zhi's eyes immediately turned to Wu Chengsi. After staring at him for a while, he said calmly: "Chengsi, it seems that I need you to answer my questions again today."
Wu Chengsi smiled bitterly and said: "Your Majesty, I accidentally broke this conspiracy."
King Pei saw that Li Zhi only listened to Wu's words and said anxiously: "Father!"
"Shut up, I... don't want to hear your voice now!" Li Zhi gasped.
King Pei turned pale and slowly lowered his head.
The prince on the side was overjoyed when he saw King Pei's situation at this moment, and said to Wu Chengsi: "Chengsi, please tell everyone what plot King Pei and the others planned."
Wu Chengsi took a few steps forward, walked in front of Li Zhilong, and said loudly: "This matter must start from Changye Island."
Li Zhi was moved in his heart and said: "Is this the place where the King of Yue cast the stone tablet?"
"Yes, Changye Island is actually the headquarters of the Fire Phoenix Society. After my nephew left Chang'an City, the first thing he did was go to Taizhou to wipe out the Fire Phoenix Society."
Li Zhi slapped the handrail and said angrily: "Fire Phoenix Club? Is it the Fire Phoenix Club where Li Yunxian's evil spirit is located? Has it been so long, and something like that happened at the beginning of the year, and no one has gone to destroy the Fire Phoenix Club?"
Wu Mei said: "Your Majesty, I asked Yan Liben, the Minister of Punishment, to be responsible for investigating this matter. It was precisely because of his incompetence that I dismissed him from his post."
After a pause, he continued: "Later, I planned to let Qiu Shenji serve as the Minister of Punishment, but you ordered Guo Zhengyi to serve as the Minister. Have you forgotten?"
Li Zhi looked embarrassed. He was instigated by King Pei at that time and made this decree.
Wu Chengsi did not embarrass Li Zhi for too long and continued: "After I destroyed the Fire Phoenix Society, I discovered that three hundred masons were imprisoned on Changye Island."
"These masons told me that the people from Huofeng Society imprisoned them here to build a stone monument."
"Is this the stone monument?" Li Zhi asked.
Wu Chengsi nodded: "At that time, I didn't realize what they were doing with this stone monument. It wasn't until I sent the stonemasons back to Hangzhou that I realized something was unusual."
"What's unusual?" The person asking the question was the prince, who unknowingly came behind Wu Chengsi.
“After the masons disappeared, their families were very worried and went to Hangzhou County to file a complaint. However, they were arrested by the county magistrate and imprisoned.”
The prince said angrily: "Why is this? Is there any reason to arrest the person who complained?"
Wu Chengsi said slowly: "The Hangzhou County Magistrate said that those masons had become pirates, and their families could not escape the blame. They actually imprisoned many of the masons' family members to death!"
"It's unreasonable that our Tang Dynasty has such a confused county magistrate!" The prince looked very angry.
Li Zhi stared at the King of Yue and said coldly: "It's not that they are confused, they are worried that those family members are looking for stonemasons everywhere, which will affect their plans, so they intend to get rid of those family members."
Wu Chengsi said: "Your Majesty is wise, I am aware of these excessive actions of the government, so I am paying more attention to this stone monument."
"Where is the Hangzhou County Magistrate now?" Li Zhi asked in a cold tone.
Wu Chengsi replied: "Your Majesty, the county magistrate of Hangzhou and the governor of Hangzhou who instigated him behind the scenes have both been dismissed from their posts and imprisoned."
Li Zhi said coldly: "The decree is sent to the Hangzhou County Magistrate and Hangzhou Governor Shi Yi to exterminate three ethnic groups. I want them to also experience the pain of losing their loved ones."
Su Dingfang said loudly: "Your Majesty, such a dog official should be killed as a warning to others!"
The servants on the left and right of the minister, Li Jingxuan and Pei Yan, came out together and kowtowed: "There is such a crazy official in Hangzhou. We have no shirking responsibility. Please forgive him."
Li Zhiying saw Wu Yizong standing there, looking like it had nothing to do with him, and lowered his voice and said: "Dalang, you can't escape responsibility for this matter, go up and plead guilty."
Only then did Wu Yizong feel sorry for himself. As a censor, supervising all civil and military officials, his responsibility was greater than that of the two servants, so he hurriedly went out to plead guilty.
Li Zhi snorted coldly and said nothing.
The prince suddenly shouted: "That's not right. How come there is only the governor of Hangzhou? If such a big event happened, then the governor of Hangzhou doesn't know about it at all?"
Wu Chengsi sighed and said: "When I went to Hangzhou, Wang Ji, the governor of Hangzhou, had already been dismissed."
"How could a dignified governor of a state be ignored so easily? I think that governor is really incompetent." The prince refused to give up.
Wu Chengsi glared at the prince, and seeing Li Zhi also looking over, he could only patiently explain:
"Qian Deguang, the governor of Hangzhou, is a confidant of His Royal Highness the King of Yue. Wang Ji can't defeat them. Moreover, my ability to uncover this conspiracy is also due to Wang Jishi's contribution."
The King of Yue lowered his head and remained silent, but the King of Han still resisted and shouted: "Nonsense, Qian Deguang has nothing to do with the King of Yue!"
Li Zhi said coldly: "Uncle Emperor, how do you know so clearly?"
Wu Chengsi smiled and said: "Of course His Highness the King of Han knows everything. When I was dealing with Qian Deguang, His Highness the King of Han was beside me and he kept speaking for Qian Deguang."
"You...you are talking nonsense!"
Wu Chengsi said: "There were many people present at that time, and Prime Minister Zhuge Si was also there. Your Majesty may wish to ask."
He did not say Zhuge Sanyuan, but said Zhuge Nan, intending to let Zhuge Nan show his face in front of the emperor.
Zhuge Sanyuan quickly realized this and hurriedly winked at the adopted son behind him, as if to say: "Why don't you go out and report to your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty, I can testify! The King of Han did help Qian Deguang to escape at that time!" Zhugenan shouted while squeezing forward from a very far back position.
Li Zhi glanced at him and nodded.
King Han wanted to argue again, but Li Zhi had no patience to dwell on this trivial matter and said: "Chengsi, please continue talking."
"Yes." Wu Chengsi cupped his hands and said, "They transported the stone tablet from Changye Island to Hangzhou, and then from Hangzhou to a place called 'Heicang Wharf' in Yangzhou."
"During the transportation to Yangzhou, the stele was hauled by a warship. The sergeants on the ship accidentally discovered the stele, but they were all silenced afterwards!"
Li Zhi laughed angrily and said: "Okay, very good."
"In order to deliver the stele to the palace, they had to use a dragon boat to transport tributes. Because the stele was heavy, the dragon boat required strong transport capacity, so they found the Luo family, one of the three largest ship merchants in Yangzhou, and their dragon boat
The strongest transport capacity.”
Li Zhi looked at the huge dragon boat he just rode on and said, "Is this dragon boat built by the Luo family?"
"Yes."
Li Zhi sighed: "This ship is very well built, it's a pity."
Wu Chengsi hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the Luo family has not joined their ranks!"
Li Zhi said: "Oh?"
"The Luo family refused to agree to them at first, but later they used conspiracy and tricks to frame the head of the Luo family and imprison him."
Li Zhi sneered and said: "Sure enough, he does everything he can!"
Wu Chengsi continued: "Later, Luo Shuixian, the Luo eldest daughter, came all the way to Chang'an to redress her father's grievances and met her uncle, King Luo Bin. Unexpectedly, King Luo Bin was arrested by the Ministry of Punishment before he could report to the court!"
"Where is the Minister of Punishment!" Li Zhi roared.
Guo Zhengyi stumbled a few steps forward, cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, this matter...this matter..."
"I just want to ask you, where is King Luo Bin now?"
Guo Zhengyi smiled bitterly and said: "He is in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment."
Then he showed a strong desire to survive and said: "Your Majesty, this is an order from His Highness King Pei, and His Highness King Pei directly bypassed me as the minister and gave the order to my officials. I really have no choice but to do anything!"
King Pei raised his head fiercely, knowing that if he didn't argue, he would really be doomed. He hissed: "Father, this matter is a lie. I never sent anyone to the Ministry of Punishment. Please take a closer look!"
Li Zhi sneered: "You mean Guo Zhengyi is framing you?"
King Pei gritted his teeth and said: "Father, I know that you have a lot of dissatisfaction with me, but this does not mean that all bad things are done by me!"
Li Zhi's brows gradually wrinkled.
Guo Zhengyi was about to argue when he suddenly saw Prince Ji and Prince Zheng staring at him coldly. He was shocked and closed his open mouth again.
At this moment, a person suddenly came out and said: "Your Majesty, I have something to say!"
Everyone followed the sound and saw that the person speaking was Chen Ziang, the chief minister of Prince Pei's palace.
He was afraid that Li Zhi would not want to listen to him, so he added: "What I want to say is related to King Luo Bin!"
Those who originally thought he was going to speak for King Pei were all taken aback. Even King Pei suddenly turned his head and looked at him.
Chen Zi'ang knew that he was a man of few words and could not speak out as long as someone tried to stop him. He hurriedly said: "Before King Luo Bin was arrested, the King of Yue sent someone to Prince Pei's Mansion."
King Pei said angrily: "Shut up!"
"It's you who should shut up!" Li Zhi roared, pointing at Chen Ziang and saying: "Keep talking, keep talking!"
Chen Ziang said in a deep voice: "The people from the Yue Prince's Palace came for the Miss Luo family. After His Highness King Pei learned about it, he asked Wan Jun, the general manager of the Palace, to take charge of the matter. After Wan Jun went to the Ministry of Justice, Luo Yushi was
Caught."
King Pei gritted his teeth and said: "Chen Zi'ang, I treat you well, you... why do you want to frame me?"
Chen Zi'ang sighed: "Your Highness, Mr. Chen followed you in the first place because he was impressed by your talent and learning. He thought that by your side he could show his talents, rejuvenate the country and secure the country, and leave his name in history."
"However, in order to seize the throne, you have repeatedly used despicable tricks, and you have become less and less concerned with human life. Please forgive me for not being able to follow your mistakes any longer."
King Pei sneered and said: "That sounds nice. Don't you just think that my ship is about to capsize, so you want to jump off the ship to protect yourself?"
"You evil beast, don't you know how to repent?" Li Zhi's eyes almost burst into flames.
King Pei raised his head and shouted: "Father, what is needed to govern a country is ability and means. When the late emperor seized the throne, the means he adopted were not bright at all, but he did not create the prosperous age of the Tang Dynasty!"
"You bastard, how dare you compare with the late emperor?" Li Zhi was about to explode with anger.
Li Ji said coldly: "The former emperor's civil and martial arts skills are not hundreds of times better than yours. Your Highness, King Pei, these words of yours are a bit disrespectful to the late emperor!"
"His Royal Highness King Pei, in the past few days, you have been sending people to guard Yanwei Lake and not allowing others to approach. You must be afraid that others will discover the secret of the stone tablet, right?" Li Jingxuan said.
"His Royal Highness King Pei, you have been with the King of Han and the King of Yue frequently in the past few days, presumably to discuss today's affairs." Pei Yan followed up with a stab.
King Pei looked around and found that most of the officials were staring at him with unkind eyes, and felt sad in his heart.
As the saying goes, people push down the wall, and these officials who adapt to the wind are especially good at this.
King Pei closed his eyes, knowing that he was finished.
Even if Li Zhi lets him go this time, he won't have the slightest chance to ascend to Dabao again, because his prestige among the courtiers has disappeared.
Wu Chengsi stood far away, glanced at Chen Ziang, and then glanced at Wu Mei vaguely, feeling a chill rise in his heart.
King Pei and his ministers all thought that Chen Ziang was betraying King Pei because he was taking advantage of the situation. However, Wu Chengsi felt that he had probably never been King Pei's person.
Ever since Wu Chengsi found out that Wu Mei knew about the plans of King Pei and others, he suspected that Wu Mei was planting people around King Pei.
Now it seems that that person is probably Chen Ziang.
If the speculation is true, then Wu Mei should have known about the plans of King Pei and King Langya for a long time during the royal banquet, but she did not show any hint of it.
Such a city made Wu Chengsi feel chilled. He had to think about a question, would Wu Mei have placed such a person beside him?
At this moment, Li Zhi, who was on the throne of the Long Dynasty, said: "I have issued an order to remove Guo Zheng from the post of Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment with immediate effect."
Guo Zhengyi lamented, cupped his hands and said, "I accept the decree."
Wu Chengsi suddenly noticed an abnormal flush on Li Zhi's face. His body had already deteriorated, and now he was experiencing such a blow, and he didn't know whether he could hold on.
At this moment, Li Zhi happened to cast his eyes over.
After feeling the concern in Wu Chengsi's eyes, Li Zhi softened his expression and said softly: "Chengsi, please go on, I want to know the whole truth."
Wu Chengsi sighed and raised his hands in response.
"After King Luo Bin was arrested, the Luo family left Chang'an City and were immediately captured by people from the Fire Phoenix Society. They used it to threaten the head of the Luo family, and the Luo family finally gave in."
Li Zhi glanced at the King of Yue and said coldly: "Using your wife and daughter to force each other is not a despicable method, King of Yue?"
The King of Yue lowered his head and said nothing.
"Chengsi, please speak as concisely as possible." Wu Mei also noticed that Li Zhi was not in good health and ordered.
Wu Chengsi nodded and said: "The Luo family used a dragon boat to drag the stone tablet to the palace, and sank it to the bottom of Yanwei Lake. Only then did we have today's view."
The prince shouted again: "That's not right. Even if they dragged the stone monument into the lake, how could such a heavy stone monument be erected above the lake overnight?"
This sentence asked the thoughts of everyone present. Wu Chengsi looked at the stone tablet on the lake and said slowly: "They are using a mechanism, a mechanism technique invented by the great craftsman Yu Wenkai of the previous dynasty."
When Yang Wulian, who was covered in cold sweat, heard this, he could no longer take any chances and strode out: "Your Majesty, I am guilty!"
Li Zhi didn't even look at him. He looked at the stone tablet on the lake and said, "Is this stone tablet raised using a mechanism?"
Wu Chengsi nodded and said solemnly: "Your Majesty, when Yu Wenkai passed on his craftsmanship to three disciples, he also divided the machine drawings into three and gave them to the three disciples. Supervisor Yang was Yu Wenkai's disciple.
one."
Li Zhi glanced at Yang Wulian who was kneeling on the ground and said, "What about the other two people?"
"The other two were Zhang Qiming and Yang Governor Shi Xu Yuanju. They captured Zhang Qiming's son and got Zhang Qiming's drawings, but Xu Yuanju's drawings were the hardest to get."
"Why?" the prince asked blankly.
"Because Xu Yuanju is not a person who gives in easily. When he was the county magistrate, his wife was killed by local powerful bullies because he refused to give in. The King of Yue and others were not sure that they could force Xu Yuanju to submit."
"Then how did they succeed?" the prince asked again.
Wu Chengsi sighed: "They really spent a lot of time. The King of Yue first sent his son to approach the Miss Xu family, intending to conquer Xu Yuanju, but it failed. Later he had to capture the Miss Xu family and blind her eyes with poison, and Xu Yuanju gave in.
.”
Li Zhi looked up at the sky without saying a word.
The other ministers unknowingly distanced themselves from King Pei, King Yue and King Han.
The prince was in the most relaxed mood at the moment, and asked with a smile: "You haven't said yet, what kind of mechanism can make such a stone monument rise?"
Wu Chengsi said leisurely: "It's a lifting mechanism. Yu Wenkai used that mechanism to lift a cylindrical rising dragon column with a diameter of two feet and a height of five feet by one foot!"
"It's so high? How come it's so high?" the prince asked in confusion.
"First place the Shenglong Column on a special mechanism stone slab, and then use the mechanism to raise the stone slab to lift the Shenglong Column."
The prince thought for a while and then said: "That's not right. This stone tablet was raised at least five feet high?"
Wu Chengsi explained: "On land it can only rise one foot high, but with the help of buoyancy in the water, the distance it can rise is several times greater."
Although the prince didn't understand what he heard, he still nodded, glanced at King Pei, and said in his heart: "Great, since Lao Liu did such a crazy thing, my father will never let him become the prince."
The sarcastic smile on the prince's face happened to be noticed by King Pei.
Whether he was defeated by Wu Chengsi, yelled by Li Zhi, or scolded by Wu Mei, King Pei could endure it because he respected these three people deep in his heart.
Only Prince Li Hong was looked down upon by King Pei from the bottom of his heart.
Seeing him looking at him like this, King Pei stood up abruptly, with a crazy smile on his face, and sneered: "Li Hong, you really should thank Yang Sijian."
When the prince saw his expression, he couldn't help but take a step back and said, "What should I thank him for?"
King Pei laughed and said, "Originally, I planned to deal with you, you fool, but unfortunately Yang Sijian found out about the plan. I had no choice but to postpone the plan."
Li Zhi angrily scolded: "Sir, shut up!"
Li Xian laughed wildly and said: "Father, you already know it. Then you should also know that the Western spice I gave you at the royal banquet is called geranium."
"This spice is indeed good for your headaches, but as long as it is mixed with another spice called Baitaixiang, it will worsen your condition. I was originally going to let this idiot Li Hong dedicate Baitaixiang to you.
…”
"Shut up!" Li Zhi said angrily: "Come here, catch King Pei!"